With Windows 8 Consumer Preview, Microsoft Silences the Critics

Suddenly, you can see it happening: A future in which Microsoft melds the traditional Windows desktop with the highly mobile and highly connected devices that are just now exploding isn't just possible. It's a sure thing.

Microsoft on Wednesday unleashed its nearly feature-complete Windows 8 Consumer Preview to the public. This new pre-release milestone, called the Beta internally, is one of just a handful of public releases the company plans before delivering the final version of the OS in an expected Q4 2012 timeframe. But it's already got the Internet buzzing.

"A Silicon Valley startup called Lytro is shipping a camera this week that actually lets you focus or refocus your pictures on a computer after you take them," commentator and professional Apple promoter Walt Mossberg wrote from his equally lofty perch at the Wall Street Journal.

Wait, what?

OK, so Mr. Mossberg hasn't opined on Windows 8 yet, but then why would he with other such exciting topics to discuss this week? The point, however, is simple: Even Microsoft's biggest critics—and Apple's biggest public backers—love Windows 8. Well, assuming they give it the time of day, that is.

You can find my own voluminous coverage of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview on the SuperSite for Windows, which currently consists of about 20 articles, soon to be bolstered by several more covering various installation-related topics. Interest in this milestone was so great that readers brought our web servers crashing down to the ground at least twice yesterday.

After taking a couple of weeks away from Paul's site, I check back in and see the same rants by him and the regulars here. I've read through a few of the articles and comments from the last couple of days and there are a few that at least make an attempt at sounding intelligent...infiniteloop is definitely not one of those. He sounds as childish and ignorant as ever.
Enjoy yourselves! Peace.

@herculoid,
It's not just you. There are also serious questions about Windows 8:
1. Is it wise to put two interfaces to one OS?
2. Is it wise to have two different classes of apps, Windows classic and Metro?
3. Does Metro make any sense on non-touch devices, i.e., PCs?
4. Does the enterprise market give a flip about Metro? (No is the answer on this one)
Above all, is this continuation of the "Windows everywhere" strategy by grafting on yet more stuff, tiles, make any sense? Does anyone want this?
It seems to me Windows fans want ---Windows--- while everyone else wants, well, something else. Rolling it all into one thing and calling it "Windows 8" seems like a Frankenstein monster designed by a committee. In the end it may "work", but what will happen is that PC users will ignore Metro because it needs touch, and tablet users will ignore everything except Metro. So, the whole unification strategy seems silly to me.
Finally, tiles with messages is scarcely the revelation that Paul paints it as. It's basically "icons with badges" except that the icons are larger and called "tiles".

"Is it just me, or do others see that this "beauty and simplicity" as just a bunch of squares and rectangles on the screen? Is this thing designed for morons? What gives?"
I'm having a hard time seeing what is so wonderful about this Windows 8 interface as well. Yes, the colorful rectangles and squares give it an attractive look in a pop-art sort of way. But is this really the next big step forward in desktop UI design as Microsoft is promoting? Sure, live updating tiles are a nice feature for a few applications such as weather, or email, or Facebook, but for the rest of the applications I regularly use there is no point in having live updates. Furthermore, hasn't live updating of icons already been done? My old iPod Touch and iPad already have icons which do live-updating for its email, calendar, and app update applications. If Microsoft is onto something big here, I just don't see it.